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So while this session must focus on economic security, we need to remember that for many families health care access and coverage is an urgent economic issue.
Today, too many families are struggling to pay the rising cost of their insurance and medical bills. And a 2005 national study said that medical illness triggers about half of all personal bankruptcies. This year I'm focusing my health care agenda on three items:
First--Insurance Reform.
I'm proposing for every $10 dollars a patient pays, insurance companies must spend $8 dollars and 50 cents directly on care-not on bureaucracy, and not to pad the bottom line.
These companies shouldn't have the right to choose only healthy clients and reject those with pre-existing medical conditions.
Second--Electronic Medical Records.
We need to move from paper to electronic records to control costs, reduce errors, and protect the privacy of patients.
Third---Public Insurance Consolidation.
We are proposing to save tax dollars by consolidating public health insurance purchasers, and requiring them to work as one.
Next, I propose we make the Women's Health Council permanent in statute, so that women and men are treated equally when it comes to the cost of their insurance.
And while my budget proposal is tight, it continues our commitment to cover health care for children-- first.
Those are the four points of my economic security plan.
Create Jobs.
Build a better workforce.
Expand our role as an innovation state.
And help working families make ends meet.
